The Bear resident has two loving parents – Christopher Honey and Heather Nichols. He is the youngest of five children, and with four older sisters his mom said Roddy is "spoiled."

And he's a talented athlete. Honey is the No. 1 seed at 113 pounds in the state individual wrestling meet, which begins Friday.

A few years ago, though, Roddy Honey put himself on a very different path.

At George Read Middle School, he started to get into trouble, "never anything really big, but it was often," his mom said.

It carried over to his freshman year at William Penn in 2011.

"I didn't go to class much," Roddy said. "I would go to school, then just leave with a group of friends and go do stupid stuff."

He held it together during wrestling season, but when spring came, the "stupid stuff" returned. And it turned violent.

"I got progressively worse," Roddy said. "Wrestling helped, but as soon as wrestling ended, I was straight back into it. I made a real, real bad call toward the end of the year, and I hurt someone real bad."

According to Family Court records, on May 17, 2011, Roddy was involved in a fight with a 14-year-old outside Read Middle School. Roddy admitted that he provoked the altercation.

"I ended up slamming his head … it was real bad. I don't like to talk about it."

Roddy said the boy suffered a fractured skull and a ruptured eardrum, injuries confirmed by court documents.

Roddy was suspended from William Penn for five days, and a third-degree assault charge was filed against him in Family Court.

It was during an Aug. 17, 2011, Family Court hearing that the change began in Roddy.

"The first time I really realized that what I was doing was bad was when I went to court and I saw the boy," Roddy said. "Just the look on his parents' faces, I felt so bad for them. That's the first time I really felt horrible about myself."

Roddy and his mother agreed to have Roddy enter a Family Court diversion and training program. The plea agreement included a sentence at Kingswood Academy, an alternative school in Wilmington.

Heather Nichols drives a school bus for Colonial School District and transports kids to Kingswood, so she knew what her son would be facing. So did Liz Skinner, a paraprofessional who works with special-needs students at William Penn.

"You're surrounded by kids who are just never going to make it," Skinner said. "It's hard. I worked in the alternative program when I first started in the district, and I'll tell you, they're no joke. Those kids are no joke. Some of them come to school with ankle bracelets on."

Roddy's mother had some simple instructions for her son:

"When he got sent to that school, I told him, 'You're going there to do a little sentence and get out,' " Nichols said. "I told him, 'Don't make friends. I don't want to know someone's name. I don't want them calling our house. Go there, do the work, and get out.'"

The reality hit him quickly.

"As soon as I was in there, I wanted to get out of there," Roddy said. "Everyone in there … they're bad. And they didn't care. They weren't trying to be better. Most of the people that I went to that school with are still in that school.

"I knew I wasn't as bad as they were. But it scared me, because I thought if I keep doing this, I eventually will be as bad as they were. Not to be hard on them, but there were some terrible people there."

Roddy came home and told his mother about the fights he had seen at Kingswood.

Any bad behavior would extend Roddy's sentence. His mother told him about students who started at Kingswood for 60 days and wound up staying for three years. So he kept his head down, began to study in earnest and was allowed to return to William Penn in January 2012.

But Roddy found his old friends at William Penn. His return came late in the wrestling season, and he wrestled in only one varsity match. The Colonials' coach, Marvin Dooley, could see him slipping again.

Dooley and his assistant coach, Jason Land, had the full support of Roddy's parents. They knew that sometimes coaches can reach a student in a way parents can't.

"His parents backed us," Dooley said. "We were hard on him, but he couldn't go home and get out of it. They supported us. We had meetings with them, and I told them he's going to come home mad some days."

Roddy started to ditch his old friends and find new ones on the wrestling team. He started his junior year with a new purpose, and the biggest turning point came when he earned a spot on the honor roll at the end of the first semester.

"It doesn't sound like much, but I never got good grades, ever," Roddy said. "I just always thought I was a dumb kid or something. I just thought I couldn't get the material. [The honor roll] just made me feel so good, because I finally realized if I actually try to do something, I can accomplish it."

As his grades improved, so did his wrestling. He won the conference title at 113 pounds. He lost in the second round of the state tournament, but won three matches in the consolation bracket to finish fifth, ending the season with a 36-6 record.

"As a junior, he worked through the summer and then really blossomed," Dooley said. "He did anything we wanted him to do, and above and beyond."

Along the way, he found places he could go and not get in trouble. Teammate Nico Palomo, who joined Honey as a conference champion at 138 pounds last Sunday, saw the change.

"Once he got expelled from high school and he came back, he was a different person," Palomo said. "He started focusing more on school and his grades and wrestling, and he committed himself to become better in everything he does."

Palomo has known Roddy since they wrestled on different teams in middle school – Roddy at George Read, Palomo at Calvin R. McCullough. The wrestlers who once avoided each other gradually began to bond.

"I wasn't as close with him," Palomo said. "I was friends with him at school, but I wouldn't hang out with him after school because I didn't know what type of trouble he would get me into.

"Now, he's a changed person. I'll invite him over any day of the week, no matter what time it is. If he wants to talk, hang out, do whatever, the door is always open for him."

Skinner, the special-needs paraprofessional, noticed the change in Roddy's relationships. She knows what wrestling can do for young men, since two of her four sons wrestled at William Penn in the 1990s.

"One of my students has gone out for wrestling this year, and Roddy and Nico Palomo have taken him under their wing," Skinner said. "They've made it such a special experience for him. They never made him feel any different, taught him things, encouraged him, cheered him on. That shows character."

Circle of his life

Roddy's high school wrestling career will end this weekend. He takes a 37-3 record and the No. 1 seed into the DIAA Individual Wrestling State Tournament at Cape Henlopen High School.

Win or lose, he says there is no chance of him slipping back into his past ways.

"I kind of circle my life now just around wrestling," Roddy said. "It's all wrestling, whether it's in season or offseason. After this season, after I graduate, I want to come back and be an assistant coach at William Penn."

But first, he wants to wrestle in college and Dooley is helping him. But his past may stand in his way.

"I'm on the honor roll now, 3.5 and up GPA," Honey said. "But my cumulative GPA is just ruined from my freshman and sophomore years. They don't take into account anything I did at that [alternative] school, and that just ruins it.

"That's another reason I wish I could take all of that back. Now that I'm a senior, I want to go to college. It's hard now, because that GPA brings me down."

Still apologetic

The assault charge was dropped after he completed the diversion program, but Roddy said he still feels remorse for the pain he caused. Especially to the boy he injured. The boy's name was not included in court documents, and those interviewed for this story declined to name him.

"I tried to say I was sorry to his family, but they didn't want to hear it," Roddy said. "I understand. I still feel horrible about it. I really do. He didn't deserve it."

He also continues to apologize to his parents.

"When I was a bad kid, they tried so much to bring me back," Roddy said. "Every night, they had long talks with me. They really wanted me to be good. Now that I am, they're obviously so happy."

Nichols was on hand for the ceremony when Roddy received the inaugural Tim Bisson Scholarship, a $2,000 award named in honor of a former A.I. du Pont wrestler who had preceded Honey in turning his life around.

Skinner read emotional statements from Roddy's coaches and teammates in front of a packed gym at Delcastle High. Five minutes later, Roddy went out and won his championship match.

"I couldn't ask for a better son. I really couldn't," Nichols said. "He's got a big heart, he helps everyone, he does well in school. When they told me he was going to get that award, I thought, 'Little tough guy, he's going to cry.' Because he has a big heart.

"A lot of those kids that I've driven [at Kingswood] and I know their personal stories, they have no support. He's got 150 percent support from his mother and father."

Dooley will be in Roddy's corner during the state meet.

"This is what you coach for," Dooley said. "It's not just about wins and losses, it's about somebody who changes their life. He really did."

Sean O'Sullivan contributed to this article.

Contact Brad Myers at (302) 324-2807 or bmyers@delawareonline.com.

Roddy Honey

then and now

Then: According to Family Court records, on May 17, 2011, Roddy was involved in a fight with a 14-year-old outside Read Middle School. Roddy admitted that he provoked the altercation. He entered a diversion and training program, which included a sentence at an alternative school.

Now: Roddy's high school wrestling career will end this weekend. He takes a 37-3 record and the No. 1 seed into the DIAA Individual Wrestling State Tournament at Cape Henlopen High School.